Tina Buffanti inherited a PI business, a loaded gun, and a burning need to send her father’s killer to an early grave.
Writer’s Prompt
The rain in this city doesn’t wash anything away; it just turns the grit into a slick, black coat. I stood in front of “Buffanti Investigations,” the gold lettering on the door still peeling like a scab. My father, Mike, spent thirty years behind that glass before Dr. Mark Zilgar put two rounds in his chest.
The official report said it was a mugging gone wrong. My gut said otherwise. Mike had been tailing Zilgar for weeks, snapping long-range shots for the doctor’s “soon-to-be-ex.” He’d caught the good doctor doing more than reviewing charts with his head nurse—he’d caught the kind of intimacy that ruins reputations and loses licenses. Then, Mike ends up in the morgue, and the camera? Conveniently missing.
I don’t have the photos, and I don’t have a witness. What I have is a legacy of stubbornness and a Smith & Wesson that feels heavy in my purse.
My first order of business wasn’t filing paperwork or calling a lawyer. I walked into “Petals & Thorns” on 5th Street.
“Help you, Tina?” the florist asked, eyes darting to the black armband I was wearing.
“Lilies,” I said, my voice as cold as the marble in Zilgar’s lobby. “A massive spray. For Dr. Mark Zilgar’s visitation.”
The florist paused. “Zilgar? Tina, the man is still alive. I saw him on the news this morning.”
I leaned over the counter, the scent of damp earth filling my lungs. “He is for now. But I’ve always had a knack for premonitions, and I’m betting his schedule is about to clear up permanently.”
I walked out into the downpour. Across the street, Zilgar’s black sedan pulled up to his clinic. I reached into my bag, my fingers brushing the cold steel.
Finish the Story
The scent of lilies is already in the air, but the trigger hasn’t been pulled. Does Tina find the missing camera in Zilgar’s car, or does she become the very monster she’s hunting? How does the final confrontation end?